The death of decorum: Why politicians and public figures must watch their mouths

In 2012, former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated in court arguments that the Federal Communications Commission should not restrict indecent or offensive content on broadcast television. She asserted that the f-word, the s-word and even naked backsides were all allowed on publicly owned airwaves, because such things were just “common parlance.”

Apparently, Justice Ginsburg hung out with a foul-mouthed crowd.

The coarse language we hear in the public sphere today is even more pronounced than when Ginsburg yawned at the thought of standing up for decorum. Politicians, athletes, so-called entertainers and social media provocateurs have indeed made naughty language common parlance, living out Ginsburg’s sentiment. The stuff that once led to mom washing out junior’s mouth with soap is now in song lyrics, on the internet and in political speeches and news interviews. Profane and indecent language now permeates the culture. Even primary school kids blurt out frat house language, as any elementary school teacher can confirm.

Many politicians and public officials throughout history have been famously profane, including presidents . Most had enough sense, however, to keep such language behind closed doors. Today, it seems, politicians have no qualms about cutting loose in public, apparently — and falsely — believing their potty mouths make them appear relatable, authentic or passionate. It mostly demonstrates, however, that they can’t control their mouths and have little regard for poisoning the public square.

President Trump has well earned his reputation as the curser-in-chief. His predecessors in the White House were also known to use crass language, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy and, of course, “give ’em hell” Harry Truman. But blurting out verbal bombs in public was quite uncommon until Obama let out some choice words . Biden, his vice president, picked up the pace of public profanity . Trump has since taken public political cussing to a new level .

The new tendency for bad language extends well beyond the White House, into the halls of Congress and into state legislatures around the country. The trend is so pronounced that few people batted an eye when Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) delivered an f-bomb to Dr. Anthony Fauci in a recent Senate hearing. Moreno is not the only senator embracing that word — Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer helps set the low standard with his own diminished language , and by complimenting a fellow senator for her own expletive-filled outburst .

It seems it is now the rare politician who can avoid indecorous language.

In an era of political polarization, using bad language in public is one of the few things done today on a bipartisan basis. The surge in politicians’ bad language is confirmed in study by researchers at the University of California-San Diego. Professors Benjamin Bergen and Pamela Ban confirm that politician swearing is on the rise. They also assert that most of the expletive outbursts are performative rather than genuine. Just what society needs — politicians debasing language to posture as being relatable.

This is an era in which rational and civil debate has been replaced with anger and emotional outbursts. Sensible discussion can’t happen when language is used to shock and offend. Indeed, coarse verbiage is often bandied about as a replacement for genuine and purposeful deliberations. It is easier to just cuss out your policy opponents than to develop a coherent line of reasoning, as WNBA coach Stephanie White did at a press conference recently. In a nation that is far too polarized, profane and indecent language only adds to the divisiveness.

Some people might dismiss this concern for language as just so much stuffiness or prudishness. But culture matters, and culture is largely transmitted through language. Vulgar language debases society, and at some point, it standardizes the abnormal. Politicians, government officials and public figures, of all people, should demonstrate leadership in the use of language. Instead, they allow their offensive language to take the place of intellectual heft and logical rhetoric.

None of this is to suggest that salty language is nonexistent or won’t continue to thrive in the contexts of locker rooms or riverfront bars. Proper context, however, is key to language usage, and the public deliberation sphere of politics is a most unseemly place for expletives.

One of the most profound philosophers of the last century was Alasdair MacIntyre , a professor at the University of Notre Dame. He observed in the 1980s that Western civilization had already reentered the dark ages, largely because of a growing inability to identify common virtues and promote a moral and civil community. Clearly, the coarse language of today’s public personalities demonstrates a lack of civility and little respect for propriety.

This moral decline has consequences for a people who value liberty, as philosopher Edmund Burke warned two and a half centuries ago: “Liberty does not exist in the absence of morality.” Cleaning up the nation’s public rhetoric would be an important step forward.

Jeffrey M. McCall is a media critic and professor of communication at DePauw University. He has worked as a radio news director, a newspaper reporter and as a political media consultant.